How To Launch A National Radio Station

It has been a long time since the launch of a new radio station prompted daily coverage in the American trade press. (To some extent, it was that excitement that Ross on Radio’s First Listen reviews sought to recreate.) But I’ve been reading about Australia’s CADA every day for the last two weeks, since owner ARN announced that Sydney’s Rhythmic Top 40 rimshotter The Edge 96.1 was being relaunched as a national Hip-Hop station, available on DAB in major-markets and on ARN’s iHeart Australia platform.

CADA debuted on March 31. Since then, Australia’s trades have documented better than I could how:

• The station has looked beyond traditional DJ ranks—to club DJs, TikTok personalities, and other content creators, for its airstaff;
• CADA created a custom full-length song to sign-on with;
• The station has been enthusiastically received by the Australian music community.

There’s a good review of the format launch and the morning show. In addition, another preview article has added a number of reader comments worth checking out, which touch on CADA’s competitive relationship vs. Australia’s Nova stations and the Alternative non-comm Triple-J network. Or check out this commentary on CADA, Triple-J, and Wordle.

ARN debuted a TikTok Trending channel on iHeart Australia nearly a year ago, months ahead of the SiriusXM North American version. It is also the (soon-to-be-former) owner of Classic Hits 4KQ Brisbane, the world’s most successful music AM. It says something about their level of activity, and that of Australian radio, that they have been a more regular presence in this column than some U.S. broadcasters.

I’ve heard CADA several times since its launch. Like Apple Music, individual programs, not the overall format, are the station’s intended unit of currency. When I’ve heard CADA at night, when the station is not hosted, it’s a relatively mainstream Rhythmic Top 40. But I heard it yesterday at 1 p.m. with club deejay Helena Ellis’ “The Hype-Up” and it was harder and more underground.

The “non-hosted after 8 p.m.” part bears discussion. It’s been a long time since the night jock was the ambassador of younger-targeted radio stations, but it seems like a prerequisite for a national station that wants to be the nerve center of its format. Hip-Hop, more than any other format, seems like a 24/7 genre. And while I’m not a fan of reruns, a program-driven radio station could more sensibly run them at night than its rivals.

As a regional outlet, and now as a DAB network, CADA was not and will not be featured in the ratings of individual markets. Like iHeart’s Black Information Network, the sell is non-ratings-based to national advertisers. There’s no “two-minute promise” on CADA, but it would have qualified when I listened. (The major sponsor in the hours I heard was McDonald along with Australia’s Supercheap Auto Parts.) 

CADA is imaged as “Australia’s Home of Hip-Hop and R&B,” but also around the lines “never miss a beat” and “get the tempo, set the tempo.” There are a lot of credo promos and sweepers, including those that talk about a “movement growing” and how “everybody from all different walks of life” can “find their home in CADA.”

In its intent, CADA clearly hopes to be the lifestyle station for anybody not already repped by Triple-J, although that station has done a better job than any Alternative outlet in the U.S. of including some Hip-Hop, while Nova, launched as a hybrid of Top 40 and Triple-J two decades ago, is a more adult-leaning Mainstream CHR now.

Here’s Cada on April 5 during regular format around 9 p.m.:

• Camila Cabello f/ Ed Sheeran, “Bam Bam”
• Nevada f/Mark Morrison & Fetty Wap, “The Mack”
• Hilltop Hoods f/Eamon, “Show Business” (Australian and a current, despite its blast-from-the-past feature artist)
• Topic & A7S, “Breaking Me”
• ALTEGO f/Britney Spears & Ginuwine, “Toxic Pony”
• Ariana Grande, “Thank U, Next”
• Jack Harlow, “Nail Tech”
• Jay Sean, “Down”
• Becca Hatch, “2560” (Australian)
• Jnr Choi, “To The Moon”
• Doja Cat, “Need To Know”
• Chainsmokers, “Paris”

And here’s the station earlier during the day during “The Hype-Up”:

• Day1 f/Hooligan Hefs, “Magic” (Australian)
• Gunna & Future f/Young Thug, “Pushin’ P”
• Usher f/Will.I.Am, “OMG”
• Roddy Ricch, “The Box”
• French Montana f/Swae Lee, “Unforgettable”
• Nicki Minaj f/Drake & Lil Wayne, “Truffle Butter”
• Mason Dane f/Baby Prince, “Pretty Pearl” (Australian, seemingly a truncated version that was more promo than full song)
• FelixThe1st & Dreya Mac f/Finch Fetti, “Own Brand Freestyle”
• Kanye West, “Hurricane”
• Kali f/ATL Jacob, “MMM MMM”
• A$AP Rocky, “Praise the Lord (Da Shine)”
• Latto, “Big Energy” (the original, not the Mariah Carey/DJ Khalid remix)
• Justin Timberlake, “Summer Love”—ironically, I’d heard it the day before on Apple Music Hits

Triple-J came by its mystique over the course of decades. It’s hard for any radio station to declare itself a movement right away—especially now. But CADA is beginning with many right ideas. It has the advantage of a more viable digital tier than America. It is fostering a format that would be niche in one market but scalable nationwide. And proudly national is definitely better than faux local. 

Even ROR fans have been known to glaze over when I write about international radio, but 4KQ was one of my most-read articles ever, so I hope listeners are coming around because there are lessons for North America.